Monday, October 21, 2013

Obesity is a major
problem, not only in America, but also in most countries, both developed and
developing. Childhood obesity statistics
show that obese children and especially those in the teenage years have a 70%
chance of being obese as adults. This
percentage increases to 80% if either one or both of the parents are obese(Hunt
23). The epidemic of childhood obesity
needs to be put to an end. Who or what
is ultimately responsible for childhood obesity?

While searching for
major causes of childhood obesity, I came upon a very interesting article,
which had a very different point of view than a majority of articles on the
same topic, which read, “Obesity should be viewed as a consequence of a toxic
environment, rather than the population failing to take enough personal
responsibility” (Schwartz 79). The
article titled, “Actions Necessary to Prevent Childhood Obesity” by Marlene
Schwartz, raises the argument that in order to make progress in decreasing the
prevalence of obesity we must shift our views away from the medical aspect, and
more toward public health, focusing on the population. Schwartz gives many good examples of how a
child can have the desire to make unhealthy choices just by driving down the
street. Children see many different
signs, which draw their attention, most of which are fast-food establishments. Children are drawn in but the parents who are
driving them down the road are as well.
Essentially we are being enticed by these fast-food conglomerates
everywhere we go.

Schwartz explains
that humans are predisposed to prefer sweet foods, and as infants learn to
prefer the flavor of high fat and high salt foods(78). Learning at such a young age to desire these
types of food, will have a lasting effect that is not going to magically
disappear as you get older. Eating healthy
is critical while trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Majority of Americans
lead very busy and stressful lives, and when it comes to the end of the day,
eating healthy isn’t really thought about.
Most of the time the easiest way to deal with hunger at the end of the
day is to pick up food instead of cooking it.
This isn’t good when you have been snacking on donuts from the office
and topping it off with a sixty-four ounce Coke. Schwartz makes very valid points that most of
us would never think about. The
marketing toward children alone to eat unhealthy is extremely high. There is a wide range of advertising
techniques that specifically target children.

While searching
along the lines of different types of marketing toward children, a very well
written article comes into view, “Catchy Cartoons, Wayward Websites and Mobile
Marketing: Food Marketing to Children in
a Global World.” In this article, Clare
Corbett and Colin Walker state, by 2050, 70% of girls and 55% of boys will be
overweight or obese, compared to 30% obesity rate today. This article shows many types of marketing
and how it affects children, stating very similar arguments as the article
mentioned earlier, concerning how marketing can affect all of us. Corbett brings up the main argument of low
regulations regarding the promotion of unhealthy food toward children on
television, and how they need to become stricter. Television is not to blame alone; the
internet and mobile marketing need to raise the bar as well.

The way unhealthy
foods are presented to us can and does have an effect on how decisions are
made. The way certain things are
marketed is very appealing to some, and not so appealing to others. Marketing
alone can’t be the only reason for this epidemic. The way the argument was presented in the
article, pointed fingers only at the marketing and not anywhere else. There are some very good points, but not
enough for anyone to close the book on the subject.

Many
theories explain how humans are genetically wired to become obese. Nothing they try or do will make them average
weight. There are doctors researching,
countless hours, trying to find a solution if there is one. One day maybe finding this no-name gene and
eliminate it.

A group out of the
University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, research and compare parental
feeding styles and tried to predict the outcome, trying to see whether these
associations were dependent on children’s predisposition to obesity. The article entitled, “Parental Feeding
Attitudes and Styles and Child Body Mass Index: Prospective Analysis of a Gene-Environmental
Interaction,” shows the results of 57 families that were tested ranging from
high risk families to low risk families ages 3 to 7. The authors come to the conclusion of the
relationship between parental feeding styles and child’s BMI scores that
suggest a gene-environment interaction, which in turn may produce additional
weight gain.

This just shows how
vital it is to provide a firm foundation for children, centered on healthy
eating habits. When children are fed
garbage food, something is triggered which reprograms children to want garbage,
altering children’s genes in the process.
The lasting effects of unhealthy dieting are not something anyone should
ever want for their children.

Continuing research
down the path of healthy dieting, an article was found which made things even
harder to understand. The article
titled, “Tackling the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity,” in which there is a quote
that is very interesting. Louise Baur, a
member of the Canadian Medical Association states, “There shouldn’t be more
promotion of physical activity in schools to reduce childhood obesity, but how
schools should focus more on the dietary modification of the child. Baur explains several benefits from physical
activity in schools, including improvements in bone mineral density, blood
pressure, lean muscle mass and aerobic capacity(701). Ultimately she concludes the only way to go
is to modify the diets of the children.

Does she plan on
customizing personal diet plans for every child? How can anyone make a statement, be so sure
of it, and not even come up with a way to accomplish it? Seeing through personal experience the
effects of heavier-set friends dealing both with dietary and physical
struggles, knowing that through staying active and maintaining a healthy diet,
great things can be accomplished.

Candida Hunt, the
author of, “Tackling Childhood Obesity” introduces Health, Nutrition for the
Really Young (HENRY) training courses for preventing childhood obesity. The courses, which provide training for
health and community practitioners working with families, combine key elements
for a healthy lifestyle. Hunt shows an
effective way she has proven can work.
There needs to be a want, or desire to become healthy. There are some families that need the
additional help. Hunt through hard work
and diligence came up with a game plan to tackle the epidemic by teaching the
entire family how to, and what they need to do to better themselves.

Searching far and
wide, hoping to uncover some sort of solution, to find one or many different
ways to prevent childhood obesity, and coming to the conclusion that there
isn’t just one solution. Maybe the key
is to look into all aspects and choose for yourself what you need to do. Even if someone is genetically wired to
become obese, that doesn’t mean he/she should give up hope and become an
unhealthy person. We need to make a
change and just knowing how or what the changes may be will increase our chance
of making it happen.